Learning to Sing

LEARNING TO SING. A PRACTICAL EXAMPLE —WITH ILLUSTRATIONS ON THE VALUE OF MUSIC. BY APOSTLE HEBER J. GRANT. When I first commenced to write for the Era, it was my intention to become a frequent contributor, but during the past few months, I have neglected writing for the reason that my spare time has been devoted to practicing singing. Believing there are quite a number who have never sung, who perhaps would be benefited by reading an account of my efforts, and who might be encouraged thereby in learning to sing, I have decided to give my experience to the readers of the Era. My mother tried to teach me when a small child to sing, but failed because of my inability to carry a tune. Upon joining a singing class taught by Professor Charles J. Thomas, he tried and tried in vain to teach me when ten years of age to run the scale or carry a simple tune, and finally gave up in despair. He said that I could never, in this world, learn to sing. Perhaps he thought I might learn the divine art in another world. Ever since this attempt, I have frequently tried to sing when riding alone many miles from anyone who might hear me, but on such occasions could never succeed in carrying the tune of one of our familiar hymns for a single verse, and quite frequently not for a single line. When about twenty-five years of age, I had my character

LEARNING TO SING. 887 read by Professor Sims, the renowned physiognomist, and he informed me that I could sing, but added, "I would like to be at least forty miles away while you are doing it." Nearly ten months ago, while listening to Brother Horace S. Ensign sing, I remarked that I would gladly give two or three months of my spare time if by so doing it would result in my being able to sing one or two hymns. He answered that any person could learn to sing who had a reasonably good voice, and who possessed perseverance, and was willing to do plenty of practicing. My response was that I had an abundance of voice, and considerable perseverance. He was in my employ at the time, and I jokingly remarked that while he had not been hired as a music teacher, however, right now I would take my first music lesson of two hours upon the hymn, "0 My Father." Much to my surprise, at the end of four or five days, I was able to sing this hymn with Brother Ensign without any mistakes. At the end of two weeks, I could sing it alone, with the exception of being a little flat on some of the high notes. My ear not being cultivated musically, did not detect this, and the only way I knew of it was by having Brother Ensign and other friends tell me of the error. One of the leading Church oflScials, upon hearing me sing, when I first started to practice, remarked that my singing reminded him very much of the late Apostle Orson Pratt's poetry. He said Brother Pratt wrote only one piece of poetry, and this looked like it had been sawed out of boards, and sawed off straight. Once, while practicing Ringing in Brother Ensign's office in the Templeton Building, (his rooms are next to a Dentist's) some of the students of the Latter-day Saints' College who were in the hall, remarked that it sounded like somebody was having his teeth pulled. One would think that the following item from a letter from one of my nearest and most intimate friends would be very discouraging, but, like the uncomplimentary remarks above referred to, it only increases my determination to learn to sing. Referring to my daughter, he says: "I see Lutie is making quite a name as a singer; — I don't think, though, that this fact need encourage you to try to become the George Goddard of The Church. I admit that your point is a good one, i. e., if you can learn to sing, nothing

888 IMPROVEMENT ERA. need discourage anybody — but the fact that success ultimately must be reached by traveling along the border-land of ridicule, makes the task a difficult and delicate one, particularly for an apostle, who, unlike the ordinary musical crank, cannot afford to cultivate his thorax at the expense of his reputation as a man of judgment." One Sunday, at the close of a meeting in the Thirteenth Ward, upon telling Professor Charles J. Thomas that Brother Ensign informed me that I could sing, he said: "Didn't you tell him I said no?" I answered, "Yes." He said, "Why you can't even run the scale." I said, "I am aware of that fact, having tried for half an hour this morning and failed." My voice at ten years of age, must have made a very deep impression upon Brother Thomas, seeing that he had remembered it for thirty-three years. Noticing that he seemed quite skeptical, I asked him to walk over with me into the corner of the building, so as not to disturb the people who had not yet left the meetinghouse, when I sang to him in a low voice, "God Moves in a Mysterious Way." At the close he said: "That's all right." At the end of two or three months, I was able to sing not only, "0 My Father," but "God Moves in a Mysterious Way," "Come, Come, Ye Saints," and two or three other hymns. Shortly after this, while taking a trip south, I sang one or more hymns in each of the Arizona stakes, and in Juarez, Mexico. Upon my return to Salt Lake City, I attempted to sing "0 My Father," in the big Tabernacle, hoping to give an object lesson to the young people, and to encourage them to learn to sing. I made a failure, getting off the key in nearly every verse, and instead of my effort encouraging the young people, I fear that it tended to discourage them. When first starting to practice, if some person would join in and sing base, tenor or alto, I could not carry the tune. Neither could I sing, if anyone accompanied me on the piano or organ, as the variety of sounds confused me. I am pleased to be able to say that I can now sing with piano or organ accompaniment, and can also sing the lead in "God Moves in a Mysterious Way," in a duet, a trio or quartet. I have learned quite a number of songs, and have been assured by Brother Ensign, and several others well versed in music, to whom I have sung

LEARNING TO SING. 889 within the past few weeks, that I succeeded without making a mistake in a single note, which I fear would not be the case, were the attempt to be made in public. However, I intend to continue trying to sing the hymn, "0 My Father," in the Assembly Hall or big Tabernacle until such time as I can sing it without an error. How did I succeed so far? Brother Ensign adopted the plan of having me sing a line over and over again, trying to imitate his voice. He kept this up until the line was learned and could be "pronounced musically," on the same principle as learning the sound of a word. The child may be taught to pronounce correctly the word "incomprehensibility," notwithstanding the length, even if the child does not understand the phonetic sounds. I learned to sing upon the same principle, starting, figuratively speaking, in the eighth grade, with not even a knowledge of the contents of the primary. It required a vast amount of practice to learn, and my first hymn was sung many hundreds of times before I succeeded in getting it right. Upon my recent trip to Arizona, I asked Elders Rudger Clawson and J. Golden Kimball if they had any objections to my singing one hundred hymns that day. They took it as a joke, and assured me that they would be delighted. We were on the way from Holbrook to St. Johns, a distance of about sixty miles. After I had sung about forty times, they assured me that if I sang the remaining sixty they would be sure to have nervous prostration. I paid no attention whatever to their appeal, but held them to their bargain and sang the full one hundred. One hundred and fifteen songs in one day and four hundred in four days, is the largest amount of practicing I ever did. Today, my musical deafness is disappearing, and by sitting down to a piano and playing the lead notes, I can learn a song in less than one-tenth the time required when I first commenced to practice. Where a person has a low voice — as in my casehe should ask some kind friend, who understands music, to transpose his songs to a lower key. It is impossible for me to sing a majority of our hymns in the keys in which they are written in our Psalmody. The above points are mentioned for the special benefit of my musically deaf friends who desire to be cured, and

890 IMPROVEMENT ERA. are willing to do a goodly amount of hard work in order to accomplish that very pleasant result. There is nothing more pleasing to me in connection with our religion class work, than the fact that the children are being taught to sing some of our familiar hymns, first learning all the words and then to sing without an accompaniment. In this way, where the Saints do not have an organ or piano in their homes, such households will not be deprived of the privilege of praising the Lord in the songs of Zion. At the recent annual officers' meeting of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations held in the Templeton Building, I asked permission of President Smith to lead the singing for a couple of the hymns, and was assured afterwards that no errors were made. Permission to lead the singing was asked simply to give an object lesson to those, present, and with the hope of encouraging them one and all to learn to sing. The Lord tells us to seek knowledge by study and also by faith. " By constant effort and by faith, I believe that we are entitled to the blessings of the Lord, to learn to offer prayers to him in an acceptable manner in the songs of Zion. We know that people who are blind, by practicing, their fingers become so sensitive that they can read with them by the use of raised letters. By practice, the ear of a person which is not musical, will become more sensitive; as an illustration: I have learned the different letters on the piano, and partially play my own accompaniment, using but one finger, striking the lead notes. When I first started to do this, quite frequently, I would sing one note and strike another, and did not know the difference. Today my ear detects a mistake of this kind, showing very plainly that my "musical deafness" is gradually disappearing. President Brigham Young once remarked, that the Spirit of the Lord would do more to convert people than the eloquence of man. The same is true of singing. It is not always the ability that a missionary has to sing in a creditable and entertaining way that will aid him most in his missionary work; but on the contrary, if he can sing some of our beautiful hymns with the spirit in which they were written, he will be able to carry conviction to the hearts of his hearers as to the truths of the Gospel. As an example of this: Elders J. Golden Kimball and Charles A. Welch,

LEARNING TO SING. 891 neither of whom claim to sing well, while on a mission in the Southern States, were about to baptize some converts; a mob had assembled, and the brethren were given to understand that if they carried oat their intentions of baptizing that the mob would throw them into the river. The brethren determined to go ahead no matter what the result might be. Before doing so, however, they sang a song. The song seemed to have such an effect upon the mob that they were almost transfixed. The brethren proceeded with their baptisms, and then went some distance to attend to confirming the baptized. A message came from the mob asking them to come and sing that song again, and the request was complied with. The leader of the mob, Joseph Jarvis, afterwards joined The Church, and he stated to Elder Kimball that the sentiments of the hymn, and the inspiration attending the singing, as above related, converted him to the Gospel. Brother Kimball's recollection is that the hymn was "Truth Reflects Upon Our Senses."* Another incident related by Brother Kimball will be interesting to the Era readers. Calling at a home while in the Southern States, the people informed him and his associates that they were from Missouri, and immediately commenced making attacks upon the "Mormon" people. Brother Kimball and his companions energetically defended our people, refuting many of the slanders which were advanced. The arguments became quite heated, when the head of the house said, "Daughter, play us a piece, and sing us a song to drive the evil spirit away." After some music and singing, he remarked to Brother Kimball that he believed they could now proceed with their argument with a much better spirit. Elder Kimball assures me that he has never forgotten this incident, and that it was a lesson to him which has ever since been of great value. An incident is related in connection with the late President John Taylor, which shows the power of song. Some brethren called on him, one of them having a grievance against the other, and manifesting quite a vindictive spirit. Brother Taylor agreed *See page 269, L. D. S. Hymn Book.

892 IMPROVEMENT ERA. to listen to their case, but remarked that before doing so, he thought it might be well to sing a song. After singing one song, he suggested that they have another, and followed this up by singing several more. The result was that during the singing of the last song, the brother who had made the charge was melted to tears, and asked the forgiveness of the brother whom he had made complaint against, and President Taylor was not called upon to hear the story of their differences. The late George Goddard has touched my heart many times while singing the songs of Zion, and talking to our Sunday School children upon the beautiful sentiments which they contain. There is nothing more pleasing and inspiring than music in the home, and since I learned to sing, we generally have a hymn at our house each morning before family prayer. There certainly is a delightful influence which attends the singing of the songs of Zion, and it is my opinion that the Saints should make singing part of their family worship. The Lord says in a revelation given to Emma Smith, the wife of the Prophet, (Section twenty-five. Doctrine and Covenants): "For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart, yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads." My soul has always delighted in listening to singing, having been passionately fond of it all my life, and I am delighted to be able today to pray unto the Lord "in the songs of the heart." It is my opinion that if we will all remember the words of the Lord, that the song of the righteous is a prayer unto him, and shall be answered with a blessing upon our heads, and will frequently supplicate our Heavenly Father in the sweet songs of Zion, earnestly and honestly echoing in our hearts the sentiments of our beautiful hymns, that we are bound to have the promised blessings, which I urge upon the Saints to try and obtain. The two hymns which I most desired to learn were: "God Moves in a Mysterious Way," and "0 My Father." Nearly every reader of the Era is familiar with them, but I will quote the latter: 0 my Father, Thou that dwellest In the high and glorious place! When shall I regain Thy presence. And again behold Thy face?

LEARNING TO SING. 893 In Thy holy habitation, Did my spirit once reside? In my first primeval childhood, Was I nurtured near Thy side? For a wise and glorious purpose Thou hast placed me here on earth. And withheld the recollection Of my former friends and birth. Yet ofttimes a secret something Whispered, "You're a stranger here;" And I felt that I had wandered From a more exalted sphere. I had learned to call Thee Father, Through Thy Spirit from on high; But, until the Key of Knowledge Was restored, I knew not why. In the heavens, are parents single? No; the thought makes reason stare! Truth is reason; truth eternal Tells me, I've a mother there. When I leave this frail existence, When I lay this mortal by, Father, Mother, may I meet you In your royal courts on high? Then, at length, when I've completed All you sent me forth to do, With your mutual approbation Let me come and dwell with you. The hymn, "God Moves in a Mysterious Way" was the late President Wilford Woodruff's favorite — and was sung in the Temple at the weekly meetings of the presidency and apostles, more than any other hymn. Quite frequently it would be sung every week for a month, and upon more than one occasion I have noticed tears in the eyes of President Woodruff during the singing of this hymn. At President Woodruff's home, at social gatherings, my experience was that almost invariably he would request those present to sing: God moves in a mysterious way. His wonders to perform.

894 IMPROVEMENT ERA. This hymn certainly is a beautiful prayer, and one if offered from the heart to the Lord, as we all know it was by President Woodruff, cannot help but be answered with a blessing^ upon our heads. One reason for my desiring to learn the hymn, "0 My Father," is because it was written by inspiration. I know from my own experience that Eliza R, Snow was a prophetess, and that God did bless and inspire her. When I was a child she promised me by the gift of tongues, the interpretation being given by Sister Zina D. Young, that I should be chosen to be one of the leading men in The Church. Today, I remember the promise very distinctly, but it passed from my mind and was forgotten until after I was chosen as one of the apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There were a number of sisters who always took an interest in me as a child, and gave me much very good advice, but from none of them did I receive more kindly advice, all of which if followed would be calculated to assist me in becoming a noble man, than from Sister Eliza R. Snow. Recalling her interest in me, and the above prophecy uttered by her and its fulfillment, I often wished that it were possible for me to sing her beautiful hymn, "0 My Father," and I can assure the readers of the Era that it is a source of genuine pleasure to me now to be able to sing this and other hymns. I am confident that the hymns of Zion, when sung with the proper spirit, bring a peaceful and heavenly influence into our homes, and also aid in preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I recommend to the youth of Zion, that they go to work with determination and learn to sing; particularly is this recommendation made to the young men, because, next to a familiarity with the scriptures, the ability to sing will assist them when they are called to the nations of the earth to preach the Gospel. It will insure them many a friend, furnish them many a meal and bed, which they would otherwise go without. Some will say, "Oh, I can never learn to sing, for the oftener I practice, the farther I get away, because I am simply learning to sing the song incorrectly." I suggest to such that they practice only in the presence of someone who understands singing, until they can fix perfectly a given tune in their minds, and then they can practice it alone. If there is an instrument in the house, I suggest that they learn to partially accompany themselves by